The Walt Disney Company (NSYE: DIS) is a diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise. It operates through the following segments: Media Networks, Parks, Experiences and Products; Studio Entertainment ; and Direct-to-consumer and international. Started in 1923, there is hardly a child in the developed world that has not been touched by the magic of Disney. How does the magic continue to live for 96 years? How can they continue to thrive? This outline contains the areas to cover in your term paper. Each firm is unique, and you are responsible for adapting your paper to fit the circumstance.Learning Objective: to determine the strengths and weaknesses of a firm; and, to determine the core competence that can be built on to establish a competitive advantage.Method: Firm analysis and the development of an abbreviated business plan to ensure long-term survival within the competitive environment. Compare your firm to a better performing firm within the same industry, or to the industry trends that you created in the industry analysis.Maintain your focus on the segments addressed. Provide conclusions for each section and sub-section.Where quantitative analysis is required, provide numbers expressed as ratios. Use five years of data to establish trends. Where qualitative analysis is required, provide citations to support your arguments. Assumptions and common knowledge are not accepted.Continuity: Be sure that if you make a declarative statement in one section, you do not contradict yourself in another. Please number pages, and use section headings and sub-headings.CONSULT THE GRADING RUBRIC. This is a research paper intended to represent your ability to do critical analysis and apply cognitive reasoning skills with respect to the concepts learned not just in this class, but throughout your academic career.Use Oviatt Library resources discussed in our orientation. Here is the link to the page that Charissa Jefferson, our Subject Specialist Librarian put together specifically for this class.https://libguides.csun.edu/bus497/databasesI. Current SituationA. Brief firm history.a. In what industries and industry segments is your firm involved? Yourcompany may have several NAICS and/or SIC Codes because they may have several divisions or SBU’s. Before you start, you will need to decide on which one of these you will want to focus. Perhaps the easiest place tofind this information is in the company’s most recent 10K filing where they summarize their business. For example, The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries, is a diversified worldwide entertainment company with operations in four business segments: Media Networks; Parks, Experiences and Products; Studio Entertainment; and Direct-to- Consumer & International (DTCI).b. Identify your firm’s most immediate competitor. If you look up the industry information in IBIB World, you will find the companies that are prominent in that business. Choose the one that you feel matches your firm’s business.c. Provide a statement of the current position or situation of your firm within the industry and with regards to their competitor. (i.e., how goes it).B. Strategic Posture.a. What is the current vision and mission? Did you have to deduce them, orwas it stated. Is there a clear point B (an objective that we can quantify)? You should be concerned with both the quality of the vision and mission statements, and their appropriateness for the competitive environment.C. What is the Corporate Level Strategy?a. At the Corporate Level, How diversified is this firm? Related or unrelated?.D. What is the current (Porter’s generic) Business Level Strategy?a. This pertains to the division, SBU, subsidiary you choose. Is this strategyconsistent with the mission, appropriate for the environmental context, being followed by management?II. SWOT Analysis (of both your firm and the competitor you choose)As excellent resource for this is Business Source Premier (EBSCO), ABI/INFORM Complete (Pro Quest), the firms’ 10K report where they list the risk factors (look for things that are EXTERNAL to the organization for this part), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You might also want to consider reading industry analyst reports as they often opine on external environment threats and opportunities as well as internal strengths and weaknesses.A. External Environment (Opportunities and Threats.)a. General Environment: This is also know as a PESTEL analysis. Considerall the dimensions in the broader society that influence an industry and the firms within it: (You may present this information as an embedded chart as opposed to a lengthy narrative.) What is trending? Don’t just look at the numbers, what is the trend????? Which present, current, or future threats or opportunities are important to your firm? Demographic Economic Political/legal Sociocultural Technological Global Physicalb. Industrial Environment Conduct an analysis of the five forces (Porter’s) in the immediate environment. IBIS World and Mergent Online can be good resources. (You may present this information as an embedded chart as opposed to a lengthy narrative.) Threats of New Entrants (Barriers to Entry) Bargaining Power of Buyers Bargaining Power of Suppliers Threat of Substitute Products or Services Rivalry Among Existing CompetitorsWhich of the above present current or future threats or opportunities important to your firm?- Industry Competitors (intensity of rivalry) : New entrants: threat of new entrants Buyers: bargaining power of buyersSubstitutes: threats of substitutes Suppliers: bargaining power of suppliers c. Competitive Environment You will need to do the Internal Analysis before you complete this section. Your comments on the Competitive Environment will be included in the Internal Analysis (III) and SWOT Analysis Summary (IV) sections. See the green section in the very center of the image below to note specifically that for which you will be looking. (Pay no attention to where the arrow is pointing – that’s the 5- Forces!)- Competitive Environment: Internal environment Competitive environment Stakeholders General environment External environment III. Internal Environment (Strengths and Weaknesses)This is also the area where you compare financial position and the strengths and weaknesses of your organization and the strengths and weakness of their competitors.What is your firms’ competitive advantage? What is the competitor’s competitive advantage?For each of the sections below, answer the question: Which company, yours or the competitor seems to have the advantage? You can make this into a chart instead of a narrative so long as the chart also reflects your conclusions. Business Processeso These are a part of the operational and administrative procedures. Thisincludes disorganized or inaccurate record keeping. It could be limited access to natural resources. Interruptions to your supply chain and outdated or faulty IT systems are also factors you should evaluate. If you do not overcome these, your customers might see you as unreliable. You can also lose all your data.o Look for clues of strengths and weaknesses in the Primary Activities of the image below. Again, look at the strengths and weaknesses in the SWOT analysis. In the firm’s 10K risks, do they mention any INTERNAL risks? Structureo What is the Corporate Level Strategy of both firms? Does that strategyallow them to act effectively in their Business Level Strategy?o Can you get access to the organizational chart? If so, how are thefunctions structured? Does it look like a flat, empowering structure, or a top down, bureaucratic structure? What impact could that have on the functioning of the business. Objectiveso Mission and Vision. Is their vision clear? Is it vague, or do the firms seemto have a true direction? Does their current Mission seem like it supports the vision of the future? Also, look to the company’s website. Sometimes they list goals and objectives. Cultureo Often a company website will tell you about the culture. Of course, theywill paint a bright outlook, so also check antidotal sources like employee blogs and sites like Glassdoor to fact check what the companies are saying about themselves. Is there a well-defined or emerging culture composed of shared beliefs, expectations, and values? Is the culture a source of support or hindrance to achieving the mission/strategy of the corporation? Are there substantial differences in the cultures of the two companies? Powero To be honest, I do not know what the author of the image had in mind withthe category of Power!! Technologyo Your business needs innovation in order to keep up with competitors. It is essential to get one step ahead. Innovation does not only mean new or improved products. Innovation could come in the form of marketing. It could also be through promotional initiatives in the marketing plan, stafftraining, and welfare. Embracing new technology is the best way to keep up with technological advancements. A lack of innovation can pose a serious risk to a growing business. No innovation will cause a company to remain boring. The company will become dull, stagnant and irrelevant. Look at the status of the companies’ intellectual property: patents, copymarks, trademarks, as well. Financeo Financial resources include things like funding, investment opportunitiesand sources of income. It can also be assets like physical resources suchas company’s location, equipment, and facilities.o Create a chart comparing each company’s financials. You might want toadd a column showing industry averages (IBIS World) since the goal is above industry average performance. This will give you a great perspective of how each company stands industry-wise. The more categories in which your company is above industry average, the better. Gross Margin Operating Margin Price-Earnings Ratio Return on Stockholders’ Equity Profit Margin Earnings Per Share Return on Equity Anything else you think important Peopleo Employees are vital to business success. But, there are risks associatedwith them. For a firm with a union, strike action could lead to a lot of problems. Look at antidotal information found in business magazines about the working conditions at the firms. Also, check out if there are any lawsuits, settled or pending, by employees.o Are the Boards of directors diversified? Is the Chair also the company CEO? Are there any shareholder lawsuits or controversies?o Is the top management of the business segment of the firm that you are profiling diversified and seemingly competent? Have there been any recent scandals or serious business issues that were handled poorly?- Support Activities: infrastructure, Human Resources management, technology, procurement – primary activities: inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics , marketing and salesIV. SWOT ANALYSIS SUMMARYStrengths are the features of your business which allow you to work more effectively than competitors. Your specialist technical knowledge could be your strength. You will have to consider your strengths from own point of view. You should also give importance to customers’ and clients’ view. Weaknesses are the areas which have scope for improvement. Find out if your business is new products or skills. Also, try to find if you have a lower productivity or higher cost base than your competitors.A comprehensive SWOT analysis will help your organization optimize performance, maximize potential, manage competition, and minimize risk. (This can be presented as an embedded chart as opposed to a lengthy narrative. Just be sure it is comprehensive.)A. Strengthsa. It is imperative that you analyze your strengths (and weaknesses) inrelation to your competitors. In other words, what are the unique features of your company–a well-established company with established brand trust, lower production costs, superior customer service, stronger web presence, etc.–that will provide a competitive advantage? Identify those and you’ve identified your strengths.B. Weaknessesa. One way to think of weakness is the absence of strength. Therefore,the items of your business model you did not identify as strengths above are the first place to look for weaknesses. Cash flow, brand recognition, marketing budgets, distribution networks, age of your company, etc. are all places to consider when assessing weaknesses. The idea here is that you’ll turn these weaknesses into strengths. Doing so, however, requires an honest assessment of where your company needs to improve.C. Opportunitiesa. Here is where you identify the opportunities for growth, greater profit,and larger market share. Again, assessing opportunity in relation to competition is imperative. Drawing from external dynamics, what opportunities are there for you to distinguish your company from your competitors? What opportunities can you identify to offer a similar service or product at a higher quality or at a lower price than your competition? What are the needs of your customers that your field does not currently address?b. Technology is an external factor that always presents new opportunities and new threats. What technological innovations open up new opportunities for your business to lower costs, speed up production, market more effectively, or improve customer service?D. Threatsa. Lastly, in which areas is your company at risk? Is your competitordeveloping a product to compete with one of yours? Is there a new or bigger company poaching your best employees? These are all threats to your business.b. The Harvard Business Reviews defines “Threats” as “possible events or forces outside of your control that your company or unit needs to plan for or decide how to mitigate.” What about new legislation? Does a new law or proposed law threaten your production costs? What about new tax laws? A yes to any of these equals a threat.c. Lastly, just as technological innovation may provide an opportunity, it can also issue a threat.d. Threats to the business now include lawsuits over insurance liability, legislation proposing banning the service, and higher profit-margins at competing companies.Summarize the information you have identified in your research, including addressing the following questions:What is it that you do well?What benefits do you have over your competitors? What makes you stand out from the competitors? What are you bad at?Is there anything you could be better at?What should you avoid?What leads to problems or complaints?V. RecommendationBased on your analysis, on which OPPORTUNITIES is your firm in a position to capitalize? What must they do to minimize the THREATS you have identified. Point out specific strengths and weaknesses when discussing both final questions.
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